Sometimes it's easy to let your "why" get away from you. Know what I mean? You get lost in the numbers, moving through things as quickly as possible to get to the next thing, missing the forest for the trees. It's easy to do. At JHH we gave food to nearly 200 different families in 2015. Many of those families come in for assistance on a monthly basis. That may not sound like much to some organizations, but to a mostly family operated ministry serving only families within about a 5-7 miles radius of our warehouse.... that's a significant number. Even though we are able to provide food for so many families we started thinking about how in some ways we were still missing the forest for the trees.
So, around the beginning of the year we sent a letter home with the food boxes asking the families we serve if they would like to share their story with us. In 2016 we have averaged between 15-25 Kittrell Community families each week; nearly 100 different families per month! In the short amount of chaotic time we have it's difficult to get to know them and their struggles beyond their need for food. (The forest for the trees.) We believe its good to help families with the food we provide, but we believe greatness is found in the extra mile. Asking our families to share their story seemed to be a good way to get to know them, learn how we can pray for them, connect them with resources and activities for their children, and most importantly use our food ministry as a way to point them to Christ.
One of the ladies who received our letter responded by sharing a little bit about how she came to a position of needing food assistance. Here's Sandy's Story:
35 years ago she and her husband moved to Murfreesboro from Memphis for work. Here they raised their two awesome children: A daughter who has 2 children of her own and a son who who served in the Army Reserves and now attends MTSU. On Christmas Day 2013, life took a drastic turn becoming the day they lost husband, best friend, and father. Sandy's husband was the bread winner of the family so the loss of his income was a financial strain to say the least. Cutting expenses, living minimally, and pinching pennies has become a way of life, but in a world where inflation is unforgiving and always rising it's just 'hard to make ends meet.' A little while after her husband's passing a friend told Sandy about Jesus' Helping Hands. We have had the pleasure of helping her just about every month since then.
It's stories like Sandy's that remind us why we do what we do. Sometimes hard times make us fall and leave us in need of a helping hand to lift us up and get back on our feet.
Thank you, Sandy, for sharing your story.
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